World War II

Just this morning i watched a 60 min clip, about a World War II, P-38 pilot he enlisted and went to airplane mechanic school first, and then too be a pilot.His name is Earl Robinsheaux it's very interesting! he made 60 combat missions, he's got a picture of his first comrades,and when it was filmed, i think he and two others were still living! watch it you will like it!

Sounds good, where did you see it and what is the name of it??

A friend's Dad passed recently, here is part of his obituary.

After graduating from high school in Fallsburg in 1938, he went into the Air Force and ended up in the Southeast Pacific on the island of Ieshima where he attained the rank of Captain. He was lucky that he made friends with the flight surgeon and was able to live in an ambulance during the monsoon season. The flight surgeon (Ken Steele) also had access to medicinal alcohol. It didn't get much better than a dry bunk to sleep in and something to add to your bug juice at night. He flew over 129 combat missions. He started flying in the P-47 Thunderbolt and later got to fly the P-51 Mustang with the Rolls Royce engine. He said it was an excellent plane to fly. He was awarded an Air Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters, American Theater Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, a Bronze Star and a World War II Victory Medal.

Sadly, he lost his brother Walter 2 weeks after the invasion of France on the beaches of Normandy, France. It took a period of time before he found out about Walter's death. It took him over 40 years before he was able to visit Walter's grave in Brittany, France.

Just type in his name and world war 11 pilot it comes up !!

Them guys had guts, is all i am going to say!

There are so few left.

Soon, there will be none.

Dean

On utube there are several interviews. joe
try this

I have my wife's uncle's WWII footlocker. He was stationed in the Philippines during his time in the service. When he was discharged in 1946, he and his wife kept the footlocker intact because they were afraid he might have to go back due to unrest there. (That's the story she told after he passed away in the 1970's.) They never had any children. After she was gone, my wife & her sisters were cleaning the house & they found it. It is still completely packed with everything he bought home. Now that my wife is gone, I am going to donate it to the local VFW for the museum they are putting together. The current commander is a good friend of mine & he says the VFW is excited about having it for their museum. I can't think of a better place for it.

swms, I dug out the original complete obituary. Most interesting, thank you for posting.

I watched that not too long ago. Very interesting! A few years ago I watched a documentary of a P-51 pilot in the European theater. He said after returning from a mission the ground crew had to lift them out of their planes and carry them to their quarters and lay them on their cots. The pilots were so keyed up they were virtually frozen from adrenalin. And then the next day they all took-off for another mission. Men were men back then!
I was in the jury pool waiting group a couple decades ago and over heard a conversation between a couple of older guys. One guy was in High School and was waiting to graduate and join the service for WW II. When he did they were practicing takeoffs and landings from and to carriers at Albertus airport just south of Freeport, Illinois. There were 12 or so guys that had been there awhile when he joined up. Shortly after he joined, the other guys were shipped to the South Pacific to join the war effort. Not too long after the war ended. He never went overseas. None of the other guys came back. A great sacrifice for them and their families!